The Little Paris Kitchen

The little Paris kitchen...yes, the kitchens are quite small in Paris (at least at the apartments I've rented there). But the amazing thing about Paris kitchens is, they may be small, but they have everything one can need. Take for instance, the little kitchen in my recently rented apartment on rue Broca, about a five minute walk to the lively rue Mouffetard (where one can walk on old cobblestones to fruit and vegetable stalls, butcher, charcuterie and cheese shops, confectioners, wine shops, boulangeries bursting with baguettes, croissants, sweet rolls and sandwiches, patisseries with tarts, cakes, macarons, cookies  and everything else you can imagine sweet).

Here is my little Paris kitchen:

This tiny space has everything you need to cook a gourmet meal!

 I was looking through the French cookbook section at my local library and I saw this book, The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo.  After earning a degree in Art and Design, Rachel Khoo decided to follow her passion and she earned a pastry degree from Le Cordon Bleu. She has worked as a pastry chef, taught classes, wrote cookbooks, has her own tv show, and writes food columns, just to mention a few; she is just an overall amazing culinary star.

I recommend you visit her web page, Rachel Khoo. She also has two shows on the Cooking Channel, Rachel Khoo's Kitchen Notebook: London and Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo.

This recipe in the book is called Boeuf bourguignon avec des quenells de baguettes (Burgandy beef with baguette dumplings). I did not make the dumplings (but wanted to). I was just too lazy to run to the store to get a loaf of French bread. Plus it needs to be somewhat stale. Next time I will make the dumplings  because I am sure they are yummy.

Boeuf Bourguignon 
Adapted from The Little Paris Kitchen, 120 Simple but Classic French Recipes
Rachel Khoo, Copyrigh 2012, Chronicle Books

2 lbs stew beef cut in 6 or so big chunks
3-4 tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp vegetable oii
5 oz bacon, cubed
10 button onions or shallots
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
a bunch of flat leaf parsley stalks
1 sprig each of thyme and rosemary
3 cloves (missing these, so I used about 1/8 tsp ground cloves)
10 peppercorns, crushed
2 c red wine
1 1/4 c water
1 tbsp tomato paste (out of this too, so I substituted ketchup)
pinch of sugar

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Dust the meat with  2 tbsp of the flour.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or oven-proof casserole over high heat and saute the meat in batches till brown. Remove each batch, then fry the bacon, onions, garlic, herbs and spices in the same pan until golden brown.

Return the meat to the pan and add the wine, water, tomato paste and sugar, scraping up the caramelized bits to add flavor. Cover, place in the oven and cook for 3 hours or until the meat is tender and almost falling apart.

Use something more hearty than this young wine (what I had on hand).

About 20 minutes before the meat was ready, I added cleaned button mushroom caps, baby white potatoes and blanched pearl onions.

Smelling good!

Served with a crusty baguette (or Red Lobster cheese biscuits in my case) this is a delicious and hearty one pot meal. If you want to, make the stew the day before serving to let the flavors develop. I was too impatient!

The sauce is very very delicious. Would be even better had I used a good burgandy wine!

You don't even need to thicken the sauce as it is just perfect having cooked and reduced over 3 hours of cooking. How easy! This is the perfect stew for a chilly fall evening. Add a nice green salad and a bottle of French red.  Fabulous!